Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s Fund for Agent Orange (AO) Pain on November 20 handed over a VND30-million ($1,400) house to an AO victim in the southern province of Binh Thuan. The house is built for Nguyen Van No, in Tuy Phong district, who suffered from the side-effects of Agent Orange as a consequence of being exposed to the toxic herbicide sprayed by the US army during the wartime. The VNA’s fund was founded in 2006 with hopes to relieve the pain of AO victims throughout the country as well as to call for assistance from organizations and individuals to them. Besides the VNA’s help, the Association of AO Victims in Binh Thuan province has presented 1,000 sets of gift worth nearly VND400 million to local victims since August 2013. The association is calling for donations to build a care centre for AO victims, hoping to start construction next year. Despite not being a hot spot of AO spraying in the past war, Binh Thuan counts 5,500 victims, most of them living in poverty. (vietnamplus.vn Nov 20)
